


December 16th: Ornaments

by IneffableToreshi



Series: Good Omens Advent Calendar 2019 [17]
Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Aziraphale Loves Crowley (Good Omens), Christmas, Christmas Decorations, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Presents, Christmas Tree, Crowley Loves Aziraphale (Good Omens), Crowley is Good With Kids (Good Omens), First Christmas, Fluff, Ineffable Advent, Ineffable Fluff, Ineffable Husbands (Good Omens), M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, just super-cute y'all
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-16
Updated: 2019-12-16
Packaged: 2021-02-17 23:20:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21751366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IneffableToreshi/pseuds/IneffableToreshi
Summary: This is Day 16 of my Good Omens Advent Calendar for 2019, in which some of their human friends shop up at the bookshop bearing a present.
Relationships: Aziraphale & Crowley (Good Omens), Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens)
Series: Good Omens Advent Calendar 2019 [17]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1550176
Comments: 14
Kudos: 65





	December 16th: Ornaments

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Holidays everyone! I hope you enjoy my Good Omens Advent Calendar! Consider it my Christmas gift to the fandom! And if you want to give me a gift in return, please leave me a comment (I live for them!) and if you're really awesome check out my other stuff by going to my blog over at http://traceytobin.wordpress.com! <3

The visitors had, frankly, been quite unexpected. 

Since their shared experience of aiding in the thwarting of Armageddon, Aziraphale and Crowley had become rather fond of their human brothers- and sisters-in-arms and had been back to Tadfield to visit them a handful of times. Crowley, in particular, got along surprisingly well with the children, who always wanted him to play monster games with them. He hadn't been too keen the first time around, until he'd realized with amusement (and _perhaps_ just a _bit_ of a warm, fuzzy feeling) that the Them were less concerned with the overall concepts of good and evil as they were with the fact that monsters were 'really bloody cool'. They loved Crowley's eyes, adored the way he could snap fire into existence in his bare hands, and squealed with delight when he reared up as a giant, hissing serpent and playfully chased them around the (miraculously camouflaged from neighbors ) garden of Jasmine Cottage. 

Aziraphale, while obviously quite fond of the children, was more at home among the lovely Miss Device and her young lad, Newton. The witch was always more than happy to discuss matters of the like that Aziraphale hadn't been able to speak on with humans for millennia (ever since anything of a supernatural nature began to be considered blasphemous and unholy). Newt, the poor dear, was a rather nervous and awkward type, but Aziraphale wound up feeling a camaraderie with him after learning about the young man's rather destructive relationship with technology. 

All this is to say that the angel and the demon got along rather well with the strange and lovely humans who had each done their part in averting the Apocalypse, and so they did enjoy a trip to visit them every so often. 

But never before had those humans shown up in Soho, London, at the door of the bookshop with rather pleased grins on their faces. 

They'd been lucky to show up, Crowley thought later, during one of the rare moments Aziraphale had actually opened the shop, especially considering how much time he'd been opting to keep it closed since the holiday shoppers had come out in full swing. 

The young antichrist, Adam Young, was the first through the door with Dog hot on his heels, and when the first playful bark emitted from the former hellhound's throat the angel very nearly had a full-scale aneurysm on the spot. 

"No pets! No pets in the shop!" he'd run out from the backroom screaming, only to nearly stumble over himself in shock as the inseparable pair came into view. "Oh my! Adam! Whatever are you doing here?"

Crowley had followed the angel at a saunter, fingers in pockets, a surprised look on his face. He was just in time to catch a winning grin from the young antichrist, and couldn't help idly thinking that the boy was going to be breaking hearts with that smile in just a few short years. 

"I promise Dog'll be good, Mr Aziraphale," Adam assured the angel first, and as he said it the rest of the Them spilled through the door with greetings on their lips. Anathema and Newton followed close behind, hands raised in salutation. "We all came into the city for Christmas shopping!" the antichrist announced. "And we wanted to stop by to bring you something!"

"Begging your pardon if we're intruding," Newt spoke up from behind. Anathema shot him a sweet-but-exasperated smile before reminding him, "It's a  _ shop  _ during operating hours, dear, it's not like we just stormed into their flat in the middle of the night." Newt nodded in a way that suggested this wasn't the first time he'd been told such. 

Aziraphale, having gotten over the immediate shock of finding their Tadfield companions all crowded into his bookshop at once, beamed a radiant smile at them and opened his arms wide in welcome. "Of course you're not intruding!" he assured them. "Come, come around to the back room so we can have a seat!"

Crowley's eyes went wide in mock-surprise. "Bloody hell, he must like you lot if he's letting you that close to the signed first editions shelves," he teased. 

Aziraphale shot him a long-suffering look that was, all the same, infused with fondness. "I'm certain the children will be on their best behaviour," he said in an off-handed kind of way (while, at the same time, blasting a smile in the direction of the humans that radiated a kind of happy-psychotic energy to let the children know that  _ yes, they absolutely would be on their best fucking  _ _behaviour_ ).

"We've been intending to visit since you first mentioned this place," Anathema explained as the humans were ushered into the more comfortable back room. "Christmas shopping seemed like an excellent opportunity, although I promise we're not going to try to buy anything from  _ you _ ."

Aziraphale offered her a companionable nod as he miracled a tea tray and a few plates of sweets onto the table for his guests. "That would certainly be for the best," he agreed with a chuckle. 

Wensleydale and Brian (the latter of which the angel was keeping a particularly close eye on, what with his penchant for stickiness) had been all eyes as they moved through the shop and were continuing to stare all around at the many bookshelves that were crammed into the area. "You have so many books, Mr Aziraphale!" Wensleydale gawked, pushing his glasses up his nose. "And they're all so  _ old _ ," Brian added "Have you read them all?"

Crowley snorted into his mug of tea (which had become black coffee by the time it reached his lips). "Kid, he doesn't sleep and was literally around for the creation of the first written word," the demon chuckled. "What do you think?"

Aziraphale glanced bemusedly at Crowley over the top of his cup as he took a sip of his own perfectly prepared tea. "My dear, you make it sound as though reading is all I ever do." 

Crowley leaned against the side of the sofa and pretended to consider that. "No," he said after a moment. "You're right. You do other things." And then he winked, and Aziraphale blushed, and the human adults coughed into their tea while the human children were (thankfully) distracted by the sweets the angel had produced for them. 

They enjoyed an amicable visitation for some time, Aziraphale having closed the shop to avoid any interruptions, Crowley making the children roll with laughter by enchanting puppy treats to float and bounce around above Dog's head for the canine to jump at. Anathema told Aziraphale all about a tricky little spell she'd performed recently (to varying degrees of success, Newt insisted in a small, but fond, voice). Pepper described in great detail how Miss Tracy had visited and taught the Them how to perform a seance, and Wensleydale piped up with instructions Shadwell had given them on how to deal with any nasties they might conjure up by accident. (Anathema and Newt's patient looks told the angel and the demon that neither Tracy's nor Shadwell's lessons had contained anything genuinely dangerous.)

It was a lovely visit, but soon enough Anathema was informing the children that they had to be moving on if they wanted to actually get any shopping done. 

"Okay," Adam agreed even as the other children were groaning with the prospect of crowded stores (endearing them to Crowley even more). "Let's give them their gift then." 

Aziraphale and Crowley looked on in confusion as Pepper unearthed a box from her backpack. It was large enough to house a pair of oversized coffee mugs, wrapped in shining red paper, and had a gleaming silver bow on top. Pepper handed it carefully to Adam, who handed it carefully to Aziraphale, who smiled like a proud parent at the sight of it. Crowley plopped down onto the arm of the angel's chair so he could reach over and fiddle with the pretty silver bow. 

"Why thank you so very much," Aziraphale gushed. "You really didn't have to do that, of course, but we obviously appreciate it so much." His smile was as sincere as could be, but it faltered just a trifle when the children continued to stare at him expectantly. 

"Go on then!" Pepper insisted in an almost sarcastic tone. "Open it!" 

Crowley raised an eyebrow at the humans. "Aren't you supposed to save these things for Christmas day?" he pointed out (though he had to admit, to himself, that he wasn't one hundred percent certain on the proper customs, having avoided the holiday for centuries). 

"Normally," Newt agreed with a surprisingly confident smile, "but this one is special and needs to be opened early so you can use it for the holiday." Anathema elbowed him as though he was giving too much away, but she was smiling too and added, "The kids made them themselves."

Crowley and Aziraphale glanced at one another, both curious and confused. Crowley gave a slight little nod, and finally Aziraphale began to delicately undo the lovely package. He removed the bow first and reached up to stick it playfully on top of Crowley's head (eliciting a scowl from the demon and a swath of snickers from the humans). Then came the paper, carefully undone as though the adornment was as important as the present itself. Beneath was a lovely green box with a simple lid, which was soon removed to lay to the table. 

The angel and the demon leaned in to peer at their gift, and the reaction was both immediate and emotional. Crowley bit his lip and mentally threatened his corporation to behave  _ OR ELSE _ , but tears sprung immediately to Aziraphale's eyes, unabashedly. 

"Everything came from one of us," Brian piped up. "The figures were mine. I had to go through all my toys to find the right kinds of hair, but Anathema helped me dye them to get the colors right."

"Actually, it's a kind of paint," Wensleydale corrected, "because toy hair doesn't absorb dye. The glass was from me. We used a couple of round flasks from my lab set. Newt helped us cut away the necks and seal them up afterward." (The young man standing behind the children averted his gaze and hid the band-aids on his hands, but looked amusingly proud all the same.)

"The clothes came from me," Pepper added quickly. When the angel and the demon shot looks of genuine surprise her way she rolled her eyes and pouted in a random direction to avoid anyone's eyes. "Well my  _ dumb  _ aunts have been fobbing dolls off on me for years, so I had lots to work with." She rolled her eyes again, but there was a hint of a smile pulling at the corners of her mouth. 

"The weapons were Dog and me," Adam finished off. "I used the sword from one of my favorite knight models, and we used a piece of bent chain from one of Dog's leashes to make the, uh...honestly, I'm not sure what that thing was."

"A tire iron," Crowley chuckled, and if that chuckle was partly to hide the desperate little sound of emotion seeping through his voice, well, no one was about to point that out. 

In the box, being cradled between Aziraphale's hands and atop his lap, were two baubles much like tree ornaments. In each was a small figure, and those two figures looked remarkably familiar. 

One figure had short, stark-white hair, and more clothes than a child's toy should be capable of wearing at once, including a tiny, hand-tied tartan bow tie. A shiny silver sword was clutched in its hand, around which had been taped little cut pieces of yellow and orange tissue paper to give the appearance of flames. 

The other figure had short, bright red hair, and was dressed all in black, including a tiny pair of round glasses that had been painted black across the lenses. A little swirling scribble had been drawn in marker above the right ear, and the figure held a tiny, twisted-metal 'tire iron' in one hand. 

The tops of the baubles, where the glass had needed to be cut, were closed up with colored duct tape that had been carefully cut into the shape of a set of wings: white ones on the blond's bauble and black on the redhead's. A bit of pale twine was poked through each and tied into a look to allow for hanging. 

Treating them as delicately as if he were dealing with a newborn babe, Aziraphale lifted the precious little gifts from their box and examined them thoroughly. Crowley reached out with both hands to take his from the angel and cradle it in fingers that most assuredly were  _ not  _ trembling.

"Do you like them?" Adam asked after a few quiet moments. The look on the boy's face showed that he already knew the answer, but the Them were waiting with anticipation behind him, so Aziraphale offered the group one of his most radiant smiles. 

"They're absolutely outstanding," the angel gushed, and his sincerity was palpable. "You all did such an amazing job, and they're just...they're just perfect." His voice cracked a little on the last few words. The show of genuine emotion had the children grinning with a job well done, but their gazes soon shifted to Crowley for confirmation. 

The demon, for his part, didn't even realize he was being watched, because he'd drifted a bit too far into his own mind, staring down at the ornament in his hands as though he'd never seen such a truly spectacular form of artistry. He did not, therefore, respond to Adam's question in the same way Aziraphale did, but what he  _ did  _ do was smile, softly, to himself. And that - it transpired from their wide grins and patting of each others' backs - seemed to more than satisfy the Them. 

A few minutes of fond farewells and promises to see each other over the holidays later, and the humans had seen themselves out of the shop and back to their outing. For a long time after that, an angel and a demon sat cuddled up side-by-side on their sofa, watching as their twinkling Christmas lights bounced and glimmered off the surface of their two special bauble ornaments, hung with extra care in the most prominent spot on the entire tree.

"Aziraphale?" the demon whispered after quite some time. 

"Yes, darling?" the angel responded. 

"Can we adopt them?"

Aziraphale chuckled, heart filled to the brim. "I don't think that would go over so well with their parents, my love."

Crowley went quiet long enough that Aziraphale fancied himself that the demon was pouting, but eventually another question came. "Godfathers then?"

Aziraphale smiled and pulled his demon into the warmest embrace he could manage. 

"Godfathers. Yes. That sounds lovely."


End file.
